By Tealy Dippel staff reporter Residence hall visitation hours will be extended from 10 to 2 a.m. on weekdays and to 24-hour visitation on Fridays, Saturdays and nights before university-recognized holidays if a proposal submitted by the Student Concerns Committee of the House of Student Representatives is approved. Marcus Kain, chairman of the Student Concerns Committee, will meet with Don Mills, vice chancellor for student affairs, Thursday to discuss the proposal. Kain said he began thinking of the idea after he and two other TCU students attended the National Association of Campus Activities conference in Washington D.C. this summer. Kain and his committee members have researched 30 other private universities around the country, 18 of which have 24-hour visitation policies, he said.
"We want to make TCU a better residential community," he said. Carlo Capua, chairman of the Permanent Improvements Committee and a resident adviser for Milton Daniel Hall, said the campus might want to re-evaluate its visitation policy, but changes would be required. "If the hours were changed, there would be changes for (resident assistants), TCU police, and it would place more responsibility in the hands of the residents," he said. An increase in visitation hours would also mean more security and expenses, which Kain said he will discuss with members of the TCU administration. The proposal suggests having a night watchman during weekday hours and midnight to 8 a.m. during the weekend. Another option suggests placing a student in each of the housing offices during both weekday and weekend hours. People visiting would be required to present a TCU ID card and sign in and out of the building. Those visiting from outside the TCU community would be required to present a driver's license. Chelsea Hudson, a freshman pre-law and political science major and a hall representative for Colby Hall, said she likes the idea of changing visitation hours. "I think it sounds like a good plan, and I think my constituents would approve of it," she said. The proposal also suggests creating roommate contracts, in which students fill out a form with their roommates concerning quiet hours, noise and visitation hours. "Other universities such as Wake Forest University have roommate contracts to help facilitate with communication," Kain said. "It helps solve problems with adequate living environments for both people and their neighbors." Greg Skasko, chairman of the Residential Concerns Committee, which is working in conjunction with Kain's committee, said there is an overall support for new visitation hours, but students will be able to voice their opinions in a student petition which is currently being distributed to hall representatives. "Whatever students feel is best is what we want to try, and we want to do it within reason of the administration's views," he said. Sara Donaldson, chairwoman of the Academic Affairs Committee and a university tour guide, said she thinks visitation hours is definitely an issue to examine. "It's one of the questions parents on the tour ask about," she said. "It's a concern of theirs when their students are coming through. But we don't have to be like everyone else. It's up to our students and administration."
Tealy Dippel
By Alan Melson staff reporter Sales and customer traffic for TCU-area businesses during Family Weekend were generally higher than last year, local merchants said Monday. Several store managers said the 6 p.m. kickoff of the TCU football game may have helped spur that increase because it gave shoppers more time during the day. Lisa Lewis, manager of the TCU Bookstore, said Family Weekend always brings more customers through the store. "It is always a plus because the parents are here," she said. "This year the fact that it was an evening game also helped." Lewis said the bookstore's biggest-selling products were TCU clothing and gift items, but the forecast of cold weather also added to that total. "Because of the cold front coming in, a lot of people wanted to be prepared for that, so we sold more jackets and sweatshirts," she said.
"We had 400 to 500 more customers come into the store this past weekend than on a normal weekend," Smith said. "Sales were up this year, in part due to our new 'TCU Center,' where we have TCU shirts, hats, flags and things like that. The TCU Bookstore has a little bit better quality stuff, but their prices are generally double or triple what ours are. "We sold a ton of TCU stuff this weekend, mainly to parents buying stuff for themselves. With the football team doing so well, people want more TCU items," he said. Smith said grocery sales were also higher than normal. "A lot of parents came in and bought large quantities of groceries for the kids ... it's like they come in town and re-stock their kids' cabinets. The cold weather probably played a part in that, too." Hulen Mall experienced a general increase in foot traffic and sales. Janie Spina, Hulen Mall marketing manager, said the mall always does a little extra to make parents feel welcome while they are in town. "We always try to welcome TCU people during Family Weekend each year," Spina said. "We put up purple balloon arches and welcome signs, and a lot of the merchants try to do window displays with TCU or purple-colored merchandise. Parents have said they like the fact that we recognize that they are here." Spina said clothing stores in particular see an increase in sales. "Stores like Abercrombie and Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters that are popular anyway tend to do very well during Family Weekend," she said. "We have a lot of students who have come in and put items on hold at some of the stores, and then have their parents come in and purchase them when they are here." Visitors to local restaurants also said they noticed a difference. Melanie Lewter, chairwoman of Family Weekend for Programming Council, said she faced a three-hour wait on Friday night at Razzoo's on Bryant-Irvin Road. Managers at Boston Market and Einstein Bros. Bagels, two restaurants located adjacent to campus, said their sales were approximately $500 higher on Saturday and Sunday than on a normal weekend. Lanny Lancarte, president of long-time Fort Worth institution Joe T. Garcia's, said the traditional fraternity and sorority brunches held there on Saturday brought a lot of extra traffic into his restaurant. "They started at 11 a.m. and went all the way up to game time," Lancarte said. "That made the difference for us." Another event which brought additional people to the TCU area this weekend was the annual Christian Youth Fellowship Day, sponsored by TCU Admissions and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Matthew Rosine, a Brite Divinity School student and minister to youth at University Christian Church, said about 900 youth from all over the Southwest came to TCU for the weekend. "The students come to campus for a dance at the church on Saturday afternoon, and then they went to the TCU football game on Saturday night," Rosine said. "Different groups of them went out to eat before the game at restaurants around here, and some went to Hulen Mall. Some of them even spent the night at local hotels. It was a sizable group of folks that came in and had a good time." Smith said that based on the increase in sales this year, Albertson's would probably offer some kind of discount during next year's Family Weekend for TCU students and parents. Lewis said the TCU Bookstore would also continue to expand its selection of TCU-related merchandise.
Alan Melson
By Lori Eshelman staff reporter Almost two weeks after the cancellation of Maya Angelou's performance at TCU, the Honors Program is still counting its losses, and some Honors Council members said they are angry because they were not consulted about the decision to invite Angelou. Angelou canceled her appearance because her brother - who died last weekend - was gravely ill, said Eric Wold, Angelou's representative from the Washington Speakers Bureau. Kathryne McDorman, Honors Program director, said although the Honors Program was refunded the entire speaker's fee, which was between $25,000 and $35,000, it still lost an estimated $30,000 by Angelou's last-minute cancellation. The exact total will not be known until all the bills are received in about a month, she said. The main expense came from the people who worked overtime, but things such as publicity and equipment rental for Daniel-Meyer Coliseum also contributed to the loss, McDorman said. "We were certainly left holding the bag," she said. Neither Angelou nor her representatives have contacted TCU since the initial call announcing the cancellation, McDorman said. "I don't think they want to talk about it," she said. "They've probably found themselves in this situation too many times." Charles Becker, an associate professor of economics and chairman of the Honors Council, said McDorman failed to follow proper procedure when she decided to book Angelou, who has a reputation of canceling her engagements. "I was never consulted on Maya Angelou at any stage of the process," he said. "Neither was the Honors Council." Becker said it was possible that McDorman may have consulted individual members of the council, but she did not present the idea to the council as a whole. "I was never even told she was under consideration," he said. "Had I been, more would have been done to look into her background." Roger Pfaffenberger, chairman of the Faculty Senate and a member of the Honors Council, said he does not recall McDorman discussing the potential invitation with the council, and to the best of his knowledge, there was not any research done on Angelou's problems in fulfilling obligations. "Given the statistics of her proclivity for deciding at the last moment she is not coming to the engagement, I would have questioned whether this is the kind of person we should invite," he said. Pfaffenberger said he knew Angelou had about a 50 percent appearance rate. "That is why it's important for a director or council to use their advisory board - to prevent this type of thing from happening," he said. Provost William Koehler said McDorman consulted him about her decision to invite Angelou, and both agreed she would be a good person to bring to campus because she was so well-known. He said he was not aware of any history Angelou had of canceling performances and did not do any investigation into the matter prior to approving McDorman's decision. McDorman said there was no preliminary research done before Angelou was scheduled. Honors staff members decided to bring Angelou after they consulted the ad hoc committee that brought last year's Fogelson speaker, Lamar Alexander, she said. The committee is composed of honors alumni, honors students, faculty and members of the Board of Trustees. McDorman said she never actually talked to Angelou, and all communication was handled strictly through her agents. "I was warned she was very particular about arrangements and could be difficult to deal with," she said. "And we twisted ourselves into a pretzel trying to accommodate her. (Angelou) is very removed from the direct effects of this. She doesn't comprehend how devastating this is to people." Becker said because there was no consultation process, those who made the decision are responsible. "McDorman made the decision for better, or in this case, for worse, and she must accept the responsibility," he said. But Koehler said the Fogelson Honors Forum is separate from the Honors Council, so the procedures of the Honors Council did not apply in this situation. "This is a new program," he said. "Last year was the first year, and we're probably still feeling our way along in terms of procedures. But there will probably be a process of consulting in the future."
Lori Eshelman
By Stephen Suffron staff reporter Removing cumbersome procedures and buried malice to solve disputes within an organization efficiently will be the subject of conflict management expert Linda Putnam's lecture at 4 p.m. today in Moudy Building North, Room 141. Putnam, who is president-elect of the International Communication Association, comes to TCU as part of the visiting Green Honors Professors program that originated in 1969. There will be a reception following the lecture, and Putnam will remain on campus until Wednesday. William G. Powers, chairman of the speech communication department, said Putnam is the leading scholar in the field of conflict management. Putnam said the content of her speech titled "Organizational Dispute Resolution: New Developments and Challenges" will focus on bringing together two ends of the spectrum concerning conflict resolution within organizations, formal systems of disputes or hidden conflict. Each creates its own problems, she said. "You're trying to pull (the disputes) from the crevices," she said. "But you don't want it so formal that they have a whole set of procedures so that it's almost legal-like." Putnam has served as a visiting scholar at Harvard University and Stanford University. She is currently a speech communication professor at Texas A & M University. She used to be chairwoman of that department. Putnam also serves on an interdisciplinary committee that is currently trying to resolve a dispute concerning Edward's Aquifer, an underground water source that spreads across seven counties in Texas. The aquifer is the primary water source for San Antonio, recreation complexes in New Braunfels and farmers in Uvalde and Medina counties. She said the conflict centers around a Texas law that designates underground water as private property, so therefore free from government regulation. "If I'm going to tell you that, on your land, you can't dig this well and use this much water because it's a body of water a lot of people use, you're going to find that naturally offensive," she said. Putnam said one key to solving conflict is getting it out in the open.
Stephen Suffron
By Matt Welnack staff repoter Braving the wind and the rain, Army ROTC member Logan Grover strapped on his old leaky gas-powered blower after Saturday's football game and started to sweep the upper deck of Amon Carter Stadium. The sound of those blowers echoed in the stadium hours after the game ended and the 27,957 fans filed out to enjoy their Saturday evening. Grover, a senior criminal justice and physics major, and about 30 other ROTC members stay after each game to clean up trash as the program's only fund-raiser for the academic year. The ROTC program earns $1,500 a home game to clean up the stadium. The money goes toward paying for training costs and social events, such as Military Ball and Dining-In. "They are doing an excellent job," master sergeant Leonard Cousins said. "The cadets are very motivated. It's a very sacrificing job to come up on the weekend to clean the stadium." Grover said cleaning the stadium is a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. "It is mostly just gross. People don't think that others have to pick it up," Grover said. "It's a dirty job, but we get paid for it, and that's how we supplement our Army ROTC functions." Stadium clean-up is a two-step process. First, the cadets pick up large pieces of trash. Then, they put on the blowers to sweep the small trash into piles. The whole process takes between four and five hours, Grover said. Chris Foster, a senior pre-med major, said being with friends makes the whole ordeal a little easier. "Granted, there are better things we would rather do on our Saturday night," Foster said. "But you're with people that are your friends, so it' s really not that bad." Foster said the fund-raiser is not mandatory, but since it is the only one for the year, they encourage the entire 60-member battalion to participate. "We can't make them go to a fund-raiser," Cousins said. "But they understand that the stadium clean-up is a very lucrative deal." Foster said attendance at the games has fluctuated this season because of the football schedule. The season opener was on Labor Day weekend, Saturday's game was held during Family Weekend and the last game of the season is the day after Thanksgiving. Grover said weather can affect how long they have to stay to finish the job. When Saturday's cold front moved in, it brought along with it rain and wind which makes the job harder. "It was starting to get cold and the blowers weren't working," he said. "The trash wasn't moving because the rain was making it stick to the ground." Grover said the cadets will have to return later this week to finish the job. Grover said although they sometimes go back three or four times a week, they do not get paid extra for it. Some of the cadets said they can see the effect of littering firsthand. "The first time I did it I thought people were really disgusting," Madeline Gloor, a freshman premajor, said. "It changes my point of view of the garbage that I leave behind." Letha Young, a sophomore marketing major, said cleaning the stadium is difficult, and people need to be more respectful of what they leave behind. During the 1996 season, the clean-up duties were shared by both Army and Air Force ROTC. But, the next season, the Army ROTC received the contract for clean-up and Air Force ROTC now takes care of the usher duties, which entail showing fans to their seats and answering any questions. Kevin O'Connell, the associate director of athletics, said the ROTC was paid $700 for a pre-season clean-up in addition to the game duties. O'Connell said local high schools used to do the clean-up, but they decided to bring it back to TCU. The contract is renewed annually, O'Connell said. Cousins said one of the reasons ROTC got the contract is because they can offer more personnel to get the job done faster. Senior wing commander Mark Pasierb, who is in charge of the Air Force ROTC usher program, could not be reached for comment.
Matt Welnack |
Kain said the students he has talked with would like to
see extended visitation hours, and over one-fourth of the comment cards
received in September addressed visitation.
Other area businesses noticed a difference as well. Troy
Smith, store director at the Albertson's on South University Drive, said
his sales were up $20,000 from a normal weekend, significantly higher than
last year's Family Weekend.| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |